Dogs Gone Good

25/08/2024

22/08/2024

From time to time, people tell me, "lighten up, it's just a dog," or "that's a lot of money for just a dog." They don't understand the distance traveled, the time spent, or the costs involved for "just a dog."

Some of my proudest moments have come about with "just a dog." Many hours have passed and my only company was "just a dog," but I did not once feel slighted.

Some of my saddest moments have been brought about by "just a dog," and in those days of darkness, the gentle touch of "just a dog" gave me comfort and reason to overcome the day.

If you, too, think it's "just a dog," then you will probably understand phrases like "just a friend," "just a sunrise," or "just a promise."

"Just a dog" brings into my life the very essence of friendship, trust, and pure and unbridled joy.

"Just a dog" brings out the compassion and patience that makes me a better person.

Because of "just a dog," I will rise early, take long walks and look longingly to the future. So for me and folks like me, it's not "just a dog" but an embodiment of all the hopes and dreams of the future, the fond memories of the past, and the pure joy of the moment.

I hope that someday they can understand that it's not "just a dog," but the thing that gives me humanity and keeps me from being "just a woman." So the next time you hear the phrase "just a dog," just smile--because they "just don't understand."

05/08/2024

https://www.facebook.com/100064427362324/videos/1540641496482653/

25/06/2024

https://www.patriciamcconnell.com/theotherendoftheleash/overheating-in-dogs-the-concerns-increase?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2x42PqV_IejtvHIa-8CM7492qpoophxIp-IZhp15tGWIBdzgZ_2bGebvM_aem_OS2RaZG0YzCHvHw9KfQVXw

A few weeks ago Skip and I were in a trial when it was in the high 80’s and humid. Very little breeze. In short, awful. Of course, I was worried about Skip, given his bad heart, and wouldn’t have run him if the course hadn’t been a short one. I got him in the […]

22/09/2023

We start training any dog at the skill level they are at. If all they can move is their eyes, start training eye contact. If all they can do is stretch their neck, start training hand targets. If all they can do is look out the door, train them to take one step out of the door. If all they can do is a sit/stay for 2 seconds start building to 3.
There is no magic to any of this. None at all. It's not going to happen because of a pill, potion or piece of equipment. It's going to happen because you help the dog learn to make good associations with the objects or events in their life that are currently scaring them and you teach them behaviors that will be reinforcing for them to perform. Don't skimp on the food. What can seem like disinterest in food can be either a low value treat or a low rate of reinforcement and the dog gives up playing the training game with us.

Education and training for dog pros & owners on problem behavior challenges including fear, reactivity, anxiety, and aggression in animals.

25/08/2022

"We know that insufficient early socialization causes hard-to-reverse changes in brain function and anatomy, leading to temperament problems later in life, such as fear and aggression towards people. We know these problems are difficult and time-consuming to attempt to resolve in adulthood, yet may be so easily prevented with ample early socialization and handling. We know that socializing puppies with people is as easy as it is enjoyable." -Dr. Ian Dunbar PhD

21/02/2022

"I tried to teach my dog with books, she gave me only puzzled looks - I tried to teach my dog with words, They passed her by, oft unheard. Despairingly I turned aside 'How shall I teach this dog?' I cried. Into my hand she put the key 'Come' she said, 'Come play with me'."

14/01/2022

Replace the word child, with dog.

04/12/2021

Dog breeds are often recognized for distinctive traits — the short legs of a dachshund, wrinkled face of a pug, spotted coat of a Dalmatian. Unfortunately, the genetics that give various breeds their particular attributes are often the result of inbreeding. In a recent study published in Canine Me...

17/06/2021

"People often ask me, “what are the hardest dogs to rehab.” I always tell them any dog who’s been on a shock collar. The conditioning is so strong in the brain and creates such anxiety and aversion, that I find it very very difficult to undo the damage. Give me a neglected dog - I can help them gain trust. Give me an abused dog - I can counter condition their human experience. But give me a dog who doesn’t know where the pain had been coming from and associates it with life in general… those dogs are neurotic messes. I am a cross-over trainer. I was trained “appropriately” on an e-collar. And I will not use them anymore. There IS a better way!"
A wonderful comment in the post.

From a recent behavior appointment for a dog presented for lunging and barking at strangers and unfamiliar dogs, and who had previously been sent to an aversive-tool-based board & train facility: "He was a mess when we picked him up. The shock collar experience was horrible, it made him aggressive to us. We are now over it." And, he loves treats.

Dog owners/guardians can be drawn to the 'quick fix' promised by shock collars or other punishments, until they realize that it is not a quick fix and that it can instead, in the words of this client, traumatize the dog. That was not OK with these clients; and I'm always grateful to read about crossing over from aversive to positive reinforcement-based training. On some level, it's been a ride for all of us.

23/05/2021

19/04/2021

A much needed examination of what is happening.
https://nymag.com/article/2021/04/the-totally-disturbing-tale-of-the-american-it-dog.html

How the quest to own the tiniest, most Instagram-worthy and low-maintenance pup has bred a world of problems.

03/03/2021

****IMPORTANT INFORMATION****
Proving once again, that they always say something is safe or safer, without proof to back it up. These collars were pushed by everyone to be the best thing ever.
Now, years later the truth comes out, and they hide it from us.
Seresto, one of the most popular flea and tick collars in the country, has been linked to hundreds of pet deaths, tens of thousands of injured animals and hundreds of harmed humans, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency documents show.
Yet the EPA has done nothing to inform the public of the risks.

Seresto, developed by Bayer and now sold by Elanco, works by releasing small amounts of pesticide onto the animal for months at a time. The pesticide is supposed to kill fleas, ticks and other pests but be safe for cats and dogs

10/02/2021

🤣
https://youtu.be/lGOofzZOyl8

A lawyer showed up to virtual court in the 394th district of Texas with a kitten filter turned on, the cat moving its lips and eyes, as Rod Ponton said he an...

30/01/2021

Happy Saturday!

https://www.facebook.com/541829629315430/posts/1848092035355843/

23/01/2021

https://www.facebook.com/61800120478/posts/10159063418830479/

Three weeks in and Juanita the armadillo looks to have given up on her New Years' resolution as she naps on her exercise wheel.

16/01/2021

https://m.facebook.com/EmpoweredEquestrians/photos/a.732486700197104/3326475174131564/?type=3

Conditioned Aversives

"The whip is just an extension of my arm", "The whip is just encouragement", "The whip just provides direction", "my horse isn't afraid of the whip".

These are super common phrases used by people who just don't understand how conditioning happens. Conditioning is when A=B. It only needs to happen once or twice for someone to learn A=B. For example most of us know not to touch an open flame, it will likely burn, we've seen flames heat things enough to know how flames=hot.

So whether the whip gently touches the horse, swings gently behind the horse, or just follows the horse without ever touching them - if the horse is working to avoid the whip, it's aversive. You don't need to touch the horse with the whip for it to work effectively as an aversive motivator for a horse. It's still an aversive. Still negative reinforcement.

I see so often traditional and natural horsemanship trainers work so hard to desensitize their horse to the whip, rubbing the whip on them, moving the whip around - but if the horse flinches or seeks escape the horse is punished. All until the horse stands and tolerates the whip flapping all about them. However in the next move they use the whip to ask the horse to move away - if the horse does not the whip is flailed, flapped and smacked until the horse can bear the fear no more and moves off. If the horse is actually no longer afraid of the whip and does not move away they either strike the horse with the whip, reconditioning it as something to be feared and escaped from - or they tie a plastic bag onto the end to make it extra scary!!

So why desensitize them to something you do want them to be afraid of? Because most of us don't want to believe we are using fear and threats to control our horses. Most of us truly love our horses and train them in the ways we've been taught as "correct" and even ethical. We want to believe our horses are doing what we ask out of love for us, trust or even "respect". But the fact of the matter is that's just not the way it works.

If they aren't afraid of the whip more than they dislike the work being asked of them, the whip won't work.

It's as simple as that, a math equation, which is better, stand here and allow the whip to flap around, maybe even hit me - or work? It varies horse by horse how aversive the tool needs to be to get how much "work" out of the horse (and how aversive that horse finds the job being asked), but the equation remains the same. "But my horse isn't actually afraid of the whip", many people say this too, but if it were true the horse wouldn't work to avoid it. It's really as simple as that.

The same is true but opposite for a target. A horse will work to seek out a target so long as it's value is stronger than the work - except in this case the value is appetitive, not aversive. The target can give direction more clearly and completely than whips - in that it shows them where TO go, not where NOT to go.

Often people, in an attempt to justify the use of their tools or training techniques, in their own mind or others - people will soften the language around these tools. "It's just an extension of my arm". Maybe if your hand is as aversive as a whip? It could be! Many of my rescues move rapidly away from a fast moving hand... But is that really the relationship you want your horse to have with your hands? With you? Don't forget when conditioning is happening it's not the tool alone that's being conditioned, you and everything else that's around are being wrapped up in that picture.

How do you want your horse to see your tools? your hands? You? Do you want to be a conditioned aversive? Or a conditioned appetitive?

https://empoweredequines.com/2019/11/13/conditioned-aversives/